Editor”s note: This is the first of a two-part series about Vallejo community gardens.

With three Vallejo areas deemed food deserts, a child obesity rate of 32.8 percent, and an abundance of vacant lots, many Vallejoans agree that the city needs healthful food options.

A few residents have chosen community gardens to kill two birds with one stone: Use the vacant lots productively and produce healthier food for the community. However, the city of Vallejo has no ordinances for such ventures, a fact that has proven problematic.

A city council member has planted the seeds to address the lack of guidance for city officials, but garden organizers are tilling the soil in the meantime. Coincidentally, the community gardens are emerging at about the same time the federal government recently deemed that three South Vallejo areas are “food deserts” because their residents live more than a mile from a supermarket.

Vallejo has two large community gardens: Loma Vista Farm at 150 Ranier Ave., and People”s Garden on Mare Island.

In that spirit, a third one showing that such ventures can come in any size, is Geraldine Ensminger”s “feisty” Sonoma Boulevard Community Garden in front of McKeever Studios. It is just 4 feet square.

“We need more (community gardens) in Vallejo,” said coordinator Vilma Aquino of People”s Garden as she picked collard greens to be given to a Betty Frank”s Senior Lunch program representative.

People”s Garden is a nonprofit that donates fresh, organic food to the poor in the community, mostly to seniors, Aquino said.

It took her about a year to raise the funds and go through the bureaucratic hurdles to start the 65 by 100 square foot garden, including getting approval from the land developer, as well as from historic building and toxic substances control departments.

Aquino, once a master gardener, said the idea came to her as she passed the lot frequently on her jogging route.

“It was just a moon crater,” she said. “I thought to myself this would be an ideal place to have a community garden.”

The vacant lot is owned by Lennar Mare Island, but is leased by the Global Center for Success. With community support, Aquino won a $25,000 grant by Nature”s Path Organic to start the garden.

Almost a year and one growing season later, the garden has produced more than 600 pounds of vegetables, Aquino said. Between seven and 10 volunteers help her every Saturday tending the crops.

“It”s been wonderful,” she said. “I hope for more community involvement so they can learn and teach other people.”

Over the bridge in the city, a group of Vallejo Heights neighborhood residents is also trying to convert a vacant lot on Sacramento and Denio streets into a community garden.

“We want to stop the loitering, vandalism and illegal dumping in that lot,” Maggie Parks said. “And it will provide more affordable organic food to the community.”

The group started the process in March, but has met challenges.

Parks said the city lacks any community garden standards or regulations. She cited an early example of such a hurdle when the water department was going to charge the group $9,000 to install a $500 water meter, Parks said. Those fees were meant for developers and eventually waived.

“It”s not appropriate for a community-based volunteer group like us,” she said.

The group then approached Councilwoman Marti Brown, who — along with Mayor Osby Davis — spearheaded the city”s recent “Healthy Eating Active Living” resolution. In July, Vallejo joined about 70 other cities in the statewide campaign.

“Now that the resolution has been passed, (community garden) is one of the two things that I”m actively working on,” Brown said.

“Right now there are certain hurdles to jump to use public land,” Brown said, adding that she hopes to introduce the ordinances to set garden standards for city staff early next year.

“There are many things that the city can improve on,” Brown said. “I want to think about other quality-of-life issues that we can tackle with minimum amount of money to improve people”s health.”

Parks said she hopes that Brown”s ordinances will help future community gardens.

For now, she said her group needs a lot of help.

The set budget for the 100 by 150 square feet garden is $8,000 and the group has raised a little less than $1,000. “We don”t have nearly enough,” Parks said.

When it”s all ready, the garden will be divided into 39 plots that are 10 foot by 10 foot, which will be leased to community members for $50 per year, Parks said. The fee — to be assessed annually — covers water costs, she added.

“It”s much more affordable to grow your own organic food rather than buying it,” Parks said. “And it”s such a rewarding feeling.”

Aquino agreed. Community gardening gives people a sense of community as well as introduces people to fresh food. That compares to the average 1,500 miles traveled by food from the farm to the plate, she said.

To donate time, equipment or money to the Vallejo Heights residents, call (707) 342-7547. For more information on People”s Garden, call (707) 733-3874 or visit www.vallejopeoplesgarden.org.